Comic Reviews - September(ish) #1 issues
Sep. 16th, 2014 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedsitter23Better late than never
The Fade Out (Image) by Ed Brubaker- Image Comics has released a lot of great comics in the last few years, though it is hard to keep track given that they don't get the attention of the Big Two (though I am told it's partially Image's fault), which means i have missed on some critically loved books by Brubaker like Fatale and Criminal.
Believe me, I know Brubaker is an excellent writer. I was happy to get on the ground floor for The Fade Out. Like his other two Image titles, this is noir. There's a lot to like about this right off. It's post-WW2 Hollywood. There's sex, there's murder, there's bad people and hard living. it's Ellroy territory or Chandler territory if you will.
The kicker of course is Sean Phillips art, which is incredible. It's the kind of book that should sell itself to the non-typical comic fan. Phillips's art would make the book a "buy" on its own, but Brubaker is such a talent. The pacing, the suspense, everything that makes the story is expertly handled. It leads to a "What exactly happened last night?" plot that this is headed down, and every thing about this book screams a 'must buy'.
The Multiversity -written by Grant Morrison (DC) - I really wanted to like this book. It is Grant Morrison (and DC's) big event - a look at DC's 52 Universes and a storyline that runs through all of them.
Morrison can of course be hit or miss, but some of the characters grabbed me right away. There's Earth 23 Superman who happens to be President, and also happens to look and act a bit like Barack Obama. There's Captain Carrot- a Easter Bunny-style superhero. All captured in art (at least in issue #1) that is very eye-catching by Ivan Reis. (this series as far as I know are 8 one-shots illustrated by 8 artists).
The reviews have all been 5 stars or 9 out of 10, but I have to admit that I wasn't particularly impressed.
I don't mind the crazy characters or crazy plot (which turned people off right away), but it doesn't give me an angle that I grabbed on to. It's not a humorous book, nor do I find it particularly clever in any certain ways. Morrison revisits some of his old "comics are alive" angles, but it doesn't feel particularly fresh.
I have read reviews and maybe I am missing something insomuch as there are clever DC in-jokes. But I really kind of found it tedious. It reminds me of why I so often skip DC "events" and reminds me of some ways of the 2005-ish Seven Soldiers of Victory another concept around braking into little story arcs with multiple characters. I am not sure what exactly the problem I have with it is, but I will say the concept is too 'grand' to be effective.
Supreme Blue Rose (Image) - written by Warren Ellis - I really thought at the time I was the only one who was reading Alan Moore's work on Rob Liefeld's Superman-ish (and I mean direct ripoff) character in the 1990s.
I am not sure where Blue Rose comes in, though main character Diana Dane is pretty much Lois Lane, right?
Issue 1 opens the story with a dream, but even the 'real' action is dreamlike. The art is amazingly beautiful as rendered by Tula Lotay. I suppose it's noir in some aspects, as the plot is clearly out of hard boiled criminal fiction. It also reminds me of Moore's Promethea in a lot of ways (or any of JH Williams III's work). I don't know how accurate is, but in terms of storytelling and wanting to have a truly 'fantastic' feel, I can't think of many books that even attempted that, let alone pulled it off.
I fall short of giving this my highest rating, because it doesn't seem as gratifying of a read as his other two current titles Moon Knight and Trees. At times, the style does surpass the substance. Still, it's a bit too early to jump to some conclusions, and you have to trust Ellis based on his previous work; so the best advice is to get in on it now.
The Fade Out (Image) by Ed Brubaker- Image Comics has released a lot of great comics in the last few years, though it is hard to keep track given that they don't get the attention of the Big Two (though I am told it's partially Image's fault), which means i have missed on some critically loved books by Brubaker like Fatale and Criminal.
Believe me, I know Brubaker is an excellent writer. I was happy to get on the ground floor for The Fade Out. Like his other two Image titles, this is noir. There's a lot to like about this right off. It's post-WW2 Hollywood. There's sex, there's murder, there's bad people and hard living. it's Ellroy territory or Chandler territory if you will.
The kicker of course is Sean Phillips art, which is incredible. It's the kind of book that should sell itself to the non-typical comic fan. Phillips's art would make the book a "buy" on its own, but Brubaker is such a talent. The pacing, the suspense, everything that makes the story is expertly handled. It leads to a "What exactly happened last night?" plot that this is headed down, and every thing about this book screams a 'must buy'.
The Multiversity -written by Grant Morrison (DC) - I really wanted to like this book. It is Grant Morrison (and DC's) big event - a look at DC's 52 Universes and a storyline that runs through all of them.
Morrison can of course be hit or miss, but some of the characters grabbed me right away. There's Earth 23 Superman who happens to be President, and also happens to look and act a bit like Barack Obama. There's Captain Carrot- a Easter Bunny-style superhero. All captured in art (at least in issue #1) that is very eye-catching by Ivan Reis. (this series as far as I know are 8 one-shots illustrated by 8 artists).
The reviews have all been 5 stars or 9 out of 10, but I have to admit that I wasn't particularly impressed.
I don't mind the crazy characters or crazy plot (which turned people off right away), but it doesn't give me an angle that I grabbed on to. It's not a humorous book, nor do I find it particularly clever in any certain ways. Morrison revisits some of his old "comics are alive" angles, but it doesn't feel particularly fresh.
I have read reviews and maybe I am missing something insomuch as there are clever DC in-jokes. But I really kind of found it tedious. It reminds me of why I so often skip DC "events" and reminds me of some ways of the 2005-ish Seven Soldiers of Victory another concept around braking into little story arcs with multiple characters. I am not sure what exactly the problem I have with it is, but I will say the concept is too 'grand' to be effective.
Supreme Blue Rose (Image) - written by Warren Ellis - I really thought at the time I was the only one who was reading Alan Moore's work on Rob Liefeld's Superman-ish (and I mean direct ripoff) character in the 1990s.
I am not sure where Blue Rose comes in, though main character Diana Dane is pretty much Lois Lane, right?
Issue 1 opens the story with a dream, but even the 'real' action is dreamlike. The art is amazingly beautiful as rendered by Tula Lotay. I suppose it's noir in some aspects, as the plot is clearly out of hard boiled criminal fiction. It also reminds me of Moore's Promethea in a lot of ways (or any of JH Williams III's work). I don't know how accurate is, but in terms of storytelling and wanting to have a truly 'fantastic' feel, I can't think of many books that even attempted that, let alone pulled it off.
I fall short of giving this my highest rating, because it doesn't seem as gratifying of a read as his other two current titles Moon Knight and Trees. At times, the style does surpass the substance. Still, it's a bit too early to jump to some conclusions, and you have to trust Ellis based on his previous work; so the best advice is to get in on it now.
